Mann v. State

892 So. 2d 267, 2004 Miss. App. LEXIS 921, 2004 WL 2093619
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedSeptember 21, 2004
DocketNo. 2003-KA-01018-COA
StatusPublished

This text of 892 So. 2d 267 (Mann v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mann v. State, 892 So. 2d 267, 2004 Miss. App. LEXIS 921, 2004 WL 2093619 (Mich. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

GRIFFIS, J.,

for the Court. '

¶ 1. Eroll Mann was convicted of burglary of a business under Mississippi Code Annotated Section 97-17-33 (Rev.2000). He was sentenced as an habitual offender, under Mississippi Code Annotated Section 99-19-81 (Rev.2000), to serve seven years in the custody of the Mississippi Depart[269]*269ment of Corrections, without the possibility of parole.

FACTS

¶ 2. Around midnight on January 13, 2002, Mann was stopped for driving with one headlight by Sergeant Jonathan Crawford and Officer Carolyn Kirkland of the Jackson Police Department. Mann had a passenger, Marty Rippee, with him. When Officer Kirkland approached the vehicle she noticed several containers of motor oil and gasoline additive in large storage crates, as well as a new car battery, in the bed of the truck. Officer Kirkland immediately became suspicious because of the large quantities of oil and gasoline additive. She remarked that Mann “must have caught a sale,” and he replied that the items belonged to his passenger.

¶ 3. Sergeant Crawford then noticed a large amount of broken glass on the clothing of Mann and Rippee and grew more suspicious. He radioed for patrol cars in the area to check for possible business burglaries in which glass had been broken. Shortly thereafter, Officer Veronica Manee discovered that the glass door of Southern Auto Supply had been smashed and radioed Sergeant Crawford. Southern Auto Supply was approximately two blocks from where Mann had been stopped. At the time of the stop, Mann was traveling away from the Southern Auto Supply store. Upon learning of the break-in, Sergeant Crawford arrested Mann and Rippee.

¶ 4. Mann told Sergeant Crawford and Officer Kirkland that he had picked Rip-pee up on Lynch Street, three miles away from the auto supply store, and that the items belonged to Rippee. The officers observed that there was no way Rippee would have been able to carry the items from the store to Lynch Street, and Rip-pee denied ownership of the items. At the police precinct, Mann told Detective Dexter McLaurin that he had picked Rippee up in a totally different location.

¶ 5. The owner of Southern Auto Supply, William Hicks, appeared at his store shortly after Officer Manee discovered the break-in. Hicks identified the items recovered from Mann’s truck as inventory from his store.

¶ 6. Mann now appeals and asserts that (1) the trial court erred in denying his motion for directed verdict and his motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, (2) the trial court erred in denying his motion for a new trial, and (3) the State engaged in such prejudicial conduct as to deny him a fair trial.

ANALYSIS

I. Whether the trial court erred in denying Mann’s motions for directed verdict and judgment notwithstanding the verdict.

¶ 7. Mann contends that the trial court erroneously overruled his motions for directed verdict and for judgment notwithstanding the verdict because the State failed to prove all elements of the charge of burglary beyond a reasonable doubt. Mississippi Code Annotated Section 97-17-33 (Rev.2000), in pertinent part, provides:

Every person who shall be convicted of breaking and entering, in the day or night, any shop, store ... in which any goods, merchandise, equipment or valuable thing shall be kept for use, sale, deposit, or transportation, with intent to steal therein, or to commit any felony ... shall be guilty of burglary, and imprisoned in the penitentiary not more than seven (7) years.

¶ 8. Motions for directed verdict and judgment notwithstanding the verdict implicate the sufficiency of the evidence. [270]*270Gleeton v. State, 716 So.2d 1083, 1087 (¶ 14) (Miss.1998) (superseded on other grounds). Our standard of review on the question of the legal sufficiency of the evidence is clearly defined. In Manning v. State, 735 So.2d 323, 333 (¶ 10) (Miss.1999), the Mississippi Supreme Court held:

When on appeal one convicted of a criminal offense challenges the legal sufficiency of the evidence, our authority to interfere with the jury’s verdict is quite limited. We proceed by considering all of the evidence — not just that supporting the case for the prosecution — in the light most consistent with the verdict. We give [the] prosecution the benefit of all favorable inferences that may reasonably be drawn from the evidence. If the facts and inferences so considered point in favor of the accused with sufficient force that reasonable men could not have found beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty, reversal and discharge are required. On the other hand, if there is in the record substantial evidence of such quality and weight that, having in mind the beyond a reasonable doubt burden of proof standard, reasonable and fair-minded jurors in the exercise of impartial judgment might have reached different conclusions, the verdict of guilty is thus placed beyond our authority to disturb.

It must be remembered that it is the duty of the jury to assess the credibility of witnesses. Hubbard v. State, 819 So.2d 1192,1196 (¶ 12) (Miss.2001).

¶ 9. According to the evidence presented to the jury, Mann was stopped for driving with a burned-out headlight. The police officers noticed a large quantity of containers of motor oil and gasoline additive in the bed of his truck. The officers testified that Mann denied ownership of the items, claiming they belonged to his passenger. However, the passenger, Rip-

pee, also denied ownership of the items. The jury also heard testimony, by several police officers, that Mann and Rippee both had large quantities of broken glass on then- clothing. Finally, the jury heard testimony that Southern Auto Supply, located two blocks away from where Mann was stopped, had been broken into and the store’s owner identified the items recovered from Mann’s vehicle as inventory from his store.

¶ 10. The reasonable inferences from the State’s evidence establish that Mann and Rippee broke the glass door of Southern Auto Supply, entered the store, stole the merchandise, placed it in the back of Mann’s truck, drove away, and were making their getaway when they were fortuitously stopped for driving with a burned-out headlight.

¶ 11. Considering all of the facts and circumstances, it was a logical inference for the jury to find that Mann had committed a breaking and entering of a store with the intent to steal therein as required under Mississippi Code Annotated Section 97-17-33 (Rev.2000) to establish the crime of burglary of a business. Thus, we find that the evidence was sufficient for the jury to find Mann guilty of the crime of burglary of a business.

II. Whether the trial court erred in denying Mann’s motion for a new trial.

¶ 12. Mann contends that he is entitled to a new trial because the evidence was insufficient to convict him. In determining whether a jury verdict is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence, this Court must accept as true the evidence which supports the verdict and will reverse only when convinced that the circuit court has abused its discretion in failing to grant a new trial. Dudley v. State, 719 So.2d 180, 182(¶ 8) (Miss.1998). For

[271]*271¶ 13. Without restating the evidence previously discussed, we find that the evidence presented supported the jury’s verdict of burglary of a business.

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Related

Weatherspoon v. State
732 So. 2d 158 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1999)
Gleeton v. State
716 So. 2d 1083 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1998)
Seeling v. State
844 So. 2d 439 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2003)
Dudley v. State
719 So. 2d 180 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1998)
Manning v. State
735 So. 2d 323 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1999)
Alexander v. State
759 So. 2d 411 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2000)
Hubbard v. State
819 So. 2d 1192 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2001)
McFee v. State
511 So. 2d 130 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1987)

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Bluebook (online)
892 So. 2d 267, 2004 Miss. App. LEXIS 921, 2004 WL 2093619, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mann-v-state-missctapp-2004.